Apparatus for reconditioning valve guides



Nov. 17, 1964 P. E. RICKERT APPARATUS FOR RECONDITIONING VALVE GUIDES Filed April 2, 1962 2 Sheets-Shea?l 1 Nov. 17, 1964 P. E. RlcKERT APPARATUS FOR 12x-:CONDITIONING vALvEGuIDEs United States Patent O 3,157,068 APPARATUS FOR RECONDITIONING VALVE GUIDES Paul E. Rickert, Oregon, Ohio, assignor to Hall-Toledo, Inc., Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Enea Apr. 2, 1962, ser. No. 184,378 14 Claims. (Cl. 77-2) This invention relates to internal combustion engine valve guide tools and is particularly directed to an improved means and method for renewing or reconditioning Worn valve guides.

In internal combustion engines, the valves guides, and particularly those integral with the engine head or block, tend to wear to an oblong cross-section at their ends closest to the valve seats, which causes transverse axial movement of the valve and corresponding misaligns the valve with its seat. Thus when a valve seat is to be ground, the pilot usually employed in the valve guide for guiding the valve seat grinder is not always accurately centered with the valve seat, which results in the removal of more material than necessary from the valve seat to properly center its surface with the misaligned pilot. Accordingly it is advantageous not only for more accurate seating of the valve and preventing its sidewise motion, to recondition the valve guide either by reaming it coaxial with the valve seat for an oversized valve, or better yet, by drilling it out accurately and placing a precision valve guide bushing therein to bring the guide back to its original size.

Previously, tools for the renewal and reconditioning of valve guides employed jigs which were set according to pilots which were located in the worn valve guides only.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to produce an eiicient, effective, simple, accurate, economic, quickly operated and set-up tool for renewing valve guides and the method therefor, which tool is constructed to be adapted for use on the heads or blocks of substantially all types of internal combustion engines for automobiles.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tool mounting fixture having a universally supported guide means with means for adjustably locking the guide means `in alignment with both the valveV seat and the valve guide hole instead of just the valve guide as has been previously employed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fixture of the above type with an alignment determining means in the form of a removing pilot insertable into the least worn area of the valve guide hole and in conjunction with a valve seat adapter to locate `the axis of the guide hole concentrically of both the valve seat and the valve guide.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fixture with universally adjustable sleeve means angularly rockable with a ball joint and further provided with floating ring means by which the ball and sleeve are laterally adjustable.

Another object is to provide such an apparatus which accurately can be used for drilling out a valve guide and replacing it with a new valve guide bushing to bring the valve guide back to its original size, and thereby eliminating the need for oversized valves.

Another object is to provide a tool for reconditioning and accurately aligning the valve guide with its valve seat whereby later grinding of the valve seat may `be done with a minimum of stock removal from the valve seat so as to increase the useful life of the valve seat.

Another object is to provide such a tool fixture which is readily adaptable for any standard half inch portable electric drill or drill press with positive and accurate positioning and guiding of the cutting tool driven thereby.

Another object is to provide such a tool with interice changeable bushings for different cutting tools and nterchangeable valve seat adapters for different size and bevelled valve seats.

Generally speaking, the valve guide tool of this invention comprises primarily a base member which may be clamped to the head or block of an internal combustion engine for locating a guide sleeve fixture both centrally of the valve guide and also of the valve seat for guiding a cutting tool for accurately cutting and/or reaming a valve guide. This base member contains an arcuate slot and an adjustable ball joint socket and is attached to a head or block by a stud or bolt through said slot. The guide sleeve fixture comprises an interchangeable valve seat adapter, and an outside left-hand threaded guide sleeve with a ball joint at one end thereof, and an adjusting nut on the left-hand threads for engaging the adapter at the other end of said sleeve. Interchangeable bushings for a pilot and the Shanks of the cutting tools are provided for snug non-rotating fit in said sleeve guide. A laterally floating ring socket for said ball joint is provided in the base member, which ring socket may be clamped in place by a ring nut pin operated wrench.

Before these parts of this tool are assembled, a pilot having an expandable collet at one end is inserted for expansion into the least worn portion of the valve guide. Then a bushing fitting said pilot is selected and placed in the guiding sleeve fixture and placed over the pilot with valve seat adapter against the valve seat. The base member is then installed with its socket on the ball joint end of the guide iixture and these parts are then aligned and tightened to clamp the guide fixture in place. The pilot and its bushing are then removed and the drills and/ or reamers with their corresponding bushings are inserted in the guide sleeve for guiding the tools during their reconditioning ofthe valve guide.

If desired, a quick change adapter may be used between the drill and its power source or chuck, and/or a resilient means may be provided for connecting the bushing with the guide sleeve for extending the bushing partly out of the sleeve to guide tools which have stem portions too small, and/or too long, and/or cutting edges of greater diameter than their shank that prevent said bushings from fitting completely in said guide sleeve until said tool has cut through the valve guide.

The above mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention itself will be understood best by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. l is a plan view of one embodiment of the tool of this invention in position on an engine head with the pilot therein for accurately setting the tool in position;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along line vII-II of FIG. l showing how the parts of the tool xture of this invention cooperate with the valve seat, the valve guide, and how the base clamping member may be mounted on an engine head;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken along line III-III of FIG. 2 but showing a cutting tool, i.e. a drill, instead of the pilot inserted in the guide and a quick-change adapter on said drill for fastening to a driving chuck;

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an elevational View of a bushing partly in section, which holds the pilot shown in FIG. 1 in the guide xture;

FIG. 6 is a top or end view of the bushing shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of a bushing partly in section, such as is employed by a cutting tool as shown in FIGS. 3 and 8 but having a different internal diameter; and

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view similar to FIG. 3 showing a reamer instead of a drill which has a cutting portion of larger diameter than its shank and longer than the distance between the guide sleeve and the adjacent end of the valve guide, so that a resilient means is required between the guide sleeve and the bushing for permitting axial sliding of the bushings in the guide sleeve for guiding said reamer.

For the purposes of describing the operation of the tool of this invention, there is shown in several of the figures of the drawings, an engine head H with stud bolt apertures A and valve guides `G with valve seats S axially aligned therewith along center line C.

Referring specifically to the 'figures of the drawings, the tool of this invention comprises a lbase clamping member 10 which comprises an arcuate slot 11 to one end of which is an angular projection 12 having a shouldered aperture 13 therein, the larger diameter of which is threaded at 14 (see FIGS. 3 and 8) for receiving a locking ring `15 having diametrical holes 16 therein for a manually operating pin handle 17. This ring 15 and handle 17 act as a pin wrench for clamping against the shoulder of aperture 13, a laterally adjustable 'ring socket 2f). The ring locking nut 15 is provided with an inwardly tapered conical inner surface 18, and the thickness of the fioating socket ring 20 is comparatively little so as to permit a relatively wide angular adjustment for the guide sleeve or fixture and tools to be positioned therein, as is indicated in dashed lines in FIG. 3.

The base member 10 is attached to an engine block by a locking bolt or stud having a liattened side 26 at one end thereof over and along which a stud and base retainer 27 slides and is thereby prevented from rotating. This retainer also has a fiattened lower end 28 which fits into the slot 11 along the upper surface of the base member 1t). A nut 29 through a washer 30 clamps the base member 10 to the engine head H against a nut 31 screwed onto the other end of the stud 25 through a hole such as a bolt hole A in the engine head H.

If desired, an apertured spacer block 35 may be inserted between the base member 10 and the face of the engine block or head H if more space is required between the valve seat S and projection 12 of the base member 10 for the tool guiding sleeve or fixture 50. This spacer plate 35 is provided with a slot 36 which may be aligned with slot 11 and hole A, a V-shaped notch 37 to provide space for the tool guiding sleeve or fixture between the projection 12 and valve seat S, and also a pair of holes 3S for fastening this plate to smaller engines so that the base member 10 may then be fastened only tothe slot 36 by its clamping stud 26. If desired, the base member 1t) may be fastened or clamped to the engine part having the valve seat and valve guide to be reconditioned, by other means, such as bolts, plates, C-clamps, and the like, without departing from the scope of this invention.

Another part of the tool or guide fixture of this invention comprises a plurality of interchangeable valve seat adapters 4t) (see FIGS. 2, 3 and 8) which have angularly tapered or conical ends 41 for snugly fitting in different sized and angled valve seats. These adapters 40 may be of selected different outside diameters to fit valve seats ranging in sizes between 7A; and 21/2 inches in diameter, but all these adapters have the same inside diameter 42 in order to fit the fixture adjusting nut 53 described below. Although the conical tapered ends 41 of different adapters 4f) may be at 30 and at 45 to correspond with the taper of the different types of valve seats, it has been found that a 45 angled taper on end 41 can be used to accurately center this tool for both 45 and bevelled valve seats.

Between adapters 46 and the ring socket 20 or the base member 10, there is provided a guiding sleeve 50 which is externally threaded with a thread 51 opposite to that for the rotation of the cutting tool to be used, that is a left-hand thread, so as to prevent its being loosened by rotation of the tool guided therein. One end of this sleeve 5t) has fixedly attached thereto, such as by brazing, a `ball joint 52 for cooperation with the floating ring socket 20. The opposite threaded end of the guiding sleeve 5t) has a shoulder adjusting nut 53 threaded thereon which accurately fits in the aperture 42 of the adapter 40 as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 8, with the shoulder 54 thereof engaging the 'upper surface of the adapter 40 in order to press the adapter 4f) into good centering contact with the valve seat S.

Inside the guide sleeve 59 there slidably and snugly ts one of a plurality of aligning bushings 60, 61, or 62 shown respectively in FIGS. 1-2-5-6, 3-4, or 7-8, each of which has a different inside diameter to fit the pilot '70 or the shank of one of the cutting tools. Each of these bushings 60, 61 and 62 may have a wider upper end 63, 64, and 65 respectively, to provide a resting shoulder against the top of the guide sleeve 50, however this end 63 for the bushnig 6] for aligning the pilot 70 preferably has two opposite fiat sides 66 as shown in FIGS. 1, 5 and 6 so that it may be engaged by a wrench or similar tool for turning. All of the head ends 63, 64 and 65 are provided with a cut-out portion, whether it be a notch 67 as shown in the ends 63 and 65 of bushings 60 and 62, respectively, or one flatened side 68 as shown for bushing 61 in FIGS. 3 and 4, which cut-out portions engage with a fixed pin 55 projecting from the upper end of the guide sleeve 50 to prevent relative rotation between these bushings 60, 61 or 62 and the guide sleeve 50. If desired, one of the fiat sides 66 on the head 63 bushing 60 may be used to engage this pin 55 and the notch 67 may be eliminated therefrom.

Before the above described parts of the valve guide tool of this invention may be properly assembled and clamped into useable position, they must be aligned with a standard expanding pilot 70 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, such as is used for clamping in valve guides for guiding or piloting the Hall type of eccentric motion valve grinders. This expanding pilot 70 comprises a lower valve guide engaging portion 71 and a uniform upper cylindrical guiding or piloting portion 72 which herein snugly fits inside the bushing 60. At the valve guide end of the pilot 70 there is mounted an expanding collet 73 which is controlled by turning the nut 74 at the other end of the pilot 70. This piolt 70, thus is first inserted into the valve guide G to be reconditioned, as shown in FIGS. 2, and its collet 73 is expanded therein at the place of least wear, which usually is about 1/2 to 3A of an inch from the lower or farthest end of the valve guide G from its corresponding valve seat S.

With the pilot 70 thus expanded in and projecting from the valve guide G, the above described parts of the tool of this invention are assembled thereon in the following manner:

First, a proper valve seat adapter 40 is selected which will fit the valve seat S, and then it is placed on the fixture adjusting nut 53 which is screwed up onto the sleeve 50 over the threads 51 closely adjacent the ball 52. The pilot aligning bushing 60 is then placed inside the sleeve 50 and the resulting fixture guide assembly is placed over the rilot 70 so the adapter 40 rests snugly on the valve seat Now the base or clamping member 10 is placed so that its ring socket 20 fits over the pilot 70 and its lower surface rests on the upper surface of the engine block or head H. Then the holding stud 25 is installed in a conveniently located hole, such as one of the bolt holes A, and its end nuts 29 and 31 are tightened with the fingers to hold the base 10 in place. If there is not sufficient distance between the projection 12 of the base member and the valve seat S for the sleeve 50 and adapter 40 and for the lower surface of the base member 1t) to rest fiush with or fiat against the surface of the engine block or head H, then the spacer 35 must be inserted as shown in FIG. 2 and described previously.

With the base member now in place, the locking ring must be suiciently loose to permit lateral movement of the ring socket 20. This may be accomplished by tightening this ring 15 with the fingers and then backing it off about one-quarter of a turn. The guide sleeve 50 is next rotated clockwise with the fingers relative to its adjusting nut S3 so that the ball 52 engages the ring socket while the adapter fit) still rests on the valve seat and the adjusting nut 53 rests in and on the adapter 4f). Now the base member 10 is manually moved, if necessary, to place the ring socket 20 in the center of the locking ring 15, and then the nut 29 on stud 25 is tightened with a wrench to rigidly fix the base member 10 in place.

Since the locking ring 15 has been loosened, the ball 52 is slightly lowered and the ring 15 is then tightened with the fingers back the one-quarter turn to engage snugly the ring socket 2G. Now the ball 52 is raised again and finger tightened until full contact thereof is made with the ring socket 2Q. The pin wrench handle 17 is then used to tighten the clamping of ring 15 against the laterally movable ring socket 20 and rigidly fix it in position. Finally the ball 52 and adjusting nut 53 are tightened by turning the top end 63 of the pilot aligning bushing 60, by engaging the two flattened surfaces 66 thereof with a wrench and turning it in a clockwise direction to spread the adjusting nut 53 and adapter 46 from the ball 52, thereby wedging firmly the guiding sleeve or fixture 50 between the now fixed projection 12 of the base member 10 and the fixed valve seat S. This guiding sleeve fixture 50 will now remain in this position of accurate axial alignment with both the valve seat S and valve guide G during the valve guide cutting or machining operations to follow.

The pilot 70 is now removed with its aligning bushing 6i), by release of its collet '73 with a wrench applied to the nut 74, which wrench (not shown) also may have a latch which inserts in the aperture 75 of the pilot to facilitate the removal of the pilot 70.

The valve guide G is now ready to be cut, drilled, reamed and/ or otherwise machined. Therefore reference is now had to FlG. 3 where there is shown a different inside diameter bushing 61 inserted in the sleeve 50 with the fiattened side 63 of its head 64 fitting against the pin 55 to prevent its rotation. Through this bushing 61 there is inserted a drill 30 which is shown in a position to have just cut out the valve guide G in the engine head H, while its shank portion S1 has been guided by the inside of the bushing 61. This drill S@ may be engaged directly in the chuck 85 of a standard 1/2 portable electric drill, or it may be engaged through a quick releasing adapter S6 fastened in the chuck 85 and having a set screw 87 which slidably cooperates with a fiattened side S3 on the upper end 89 of the drill shank 81. The drill 80 and its aligning bushing 61 are now removed from the guide sleeve Sil and the valve guide G is ready for the next machining operation.

Referring now to FIG. 8 there is shown a reamer 90 which has a cutting end 91 of greater diameter than its shank 92 which fits over its aligning bushing 62 so that this bushing 62 must be placed over the upper end 89 of this tool before being inserted into the guiding sleeve 50. Furthermore, the cutting end 91 is longer than the distance between the lower end of the sleeve Sti and the upper or near end of the value guide, so in order for the bushing 62 to do any effect-ive guiding of this tool or reamer 90, a helical spring 9S is placed between the head 65 of the bushing and the top of the sleeve 50. This spring 95 has its free ends 96 and 97 connected respectively, to the pin 55 and into the slot 67 to restrict relative rotation of the bushing 62 with respect to the shank 92 of the reamer 9h and still perm-it axial guiding movement between them during the cutting or reaming of the valve guide G, which usually has just been drilled out as shown in FIG. 3.

After the cutting or machining operations have been completed, the fixture tool of this invention is removed, such as by loosening the nut 29 with a wrench, and then this fixture tool may be set up again as described above after the still tightened parts therein are properly loosened. The just completed valve guide G is now ready for the insertion of an oversized valve, or preferably insertion of a precisionvalve guide bushing, either of which will be properly and accurately centered with the valve seat S.

While there Vis described above the principles of this invention in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A guiding fixture for a tool for reconditioning valve guides for valves of internal combustion engines, comprislng:

(a) a base member,

(b) means for removably anchoring said base member to an engine adjacent the valve guide to be reconditioned,

(c) bushing means to guide the shank of a cutting tool axially of the valev seat and valve guide for reconditioning said valve guide,

(d) means mounted on said guide means to align said guide means with said valve seat by engagement with said valve seat, and

(e) means engageable with said guide means for clamping said guide means in a position between said valve seat and said base member with said seat engaging means against said valve seat and with the end of said guide means remote from said valve seat against said base member.

2. A fixture according to claim 1 wherein said guide means comprises a sleeve with a ball joint at one end thereof, and wherein said base member comprises a socket for said ball joint.

3. A fixture according to claim 2 including a locking ring mounted on said base member for centering said socket with said ball joint.

4. A fixture according to claim 1 wherein said guide means .comprises a sleeve and a removable pilot placed therein for centering said sleeve with a valve guide.

5. A valve guide tool for reconditioning valve guides in alignment with their valve seats in internal combustion engines, comprising:

(a) a base member having a ball receiving socket portion alignable with a valve guide to be reconditioned,

(b) means for attaching said base member to an engine adjacent the valve guide to be reconditioned,

(c) means for engaging said valve seat,

(d) a ball ended threaded sleeve extending between said socket portion and said valve seat engaging means, said ball end fitting in said socket portion and said threaded portion having means mounting said valve seat engaging means,

(e) a first removable bushing slidable in said threaded sleeve adapted for alignment with said valve guide,

(f) means for clamping said sleeve in said alignment with both said valve seat and said valve guide and holding said valve seat engaging means in alignment with said valve seat,

(g) a second removable bushing for replacing said first bushing in said sleeve adapted for aligning and guiding a rotary cutting means for reconditioning said valve guide.

6. A tool according to claim 5 wherein said base member has an elongated slot, and wherein said attaching means comprises a stud fitting through said slot.

7. A tool according to claim 5 wherein said socket portion of said base member is laterally movable, and wherein said base member includes a ring nut for clamping said socket portion.

8. A tool according to claim 5 wherein said mounting means comprises an adjusting nut threaded on said sleeve.

9. A tool according to claim 5 wherein each of said bushings and said sleeve include cooperating means for restricting rotation of said bushings in said sleeve.

10. A tool according to claim 9 wherein said rotation restricting means comprises a pin on said sleeve and a notch in each of said bushings.

11. A tool according to claim 10 including resilient means connected between said pin and said notch.

12. A guiding lixture for a tool for reconditioning valve guides for valves of internal combustion engines, comprising:

(a) a base member,

(b) means for removably anchoring said base member to said engine adjacent the valve guides to be reconditioned,

(c) means to guide a cutting tool axially of the valve seat and valve guide for reconditioning said valve guide, and

(d) means for clamping said guide means in its tool guiding position between said valve seat and said base member, said clamping means comprising a threaded portion on said guide means and an adjusting nut means on said threaded portion engageable with said valve seat.

13. A fixture according to claim 12 wherein said adjusting nut means comprises an internally threaded portion and a valve seat adapter portion slidably engageable with the outside of said internally threaded portion.

14. A fixture acording to claim 12 wherein said threaded portion has left-hand threads.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,923,847 Seclert Aug. 22, 1933 2,026,821 Cleveland Jan. 7, 1936 2,765,523 Vaughan Oct. 9, 1956 2,864,158 Hake Dec. 16, 1958 2,864,268 Anderson Dec. 16, 1958 2,964,97 8 Alafouzos Dec. 20, 196() 

1. A GUIDING FIXTURE FOR A TOOL FOR RECONDITIONING VALVE GUIDES FOR VALVES OF INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES, COMPRISING: (A) A BASE MEMBER, (B) MEANS FOR REMOVABLY ANCHORING SAID BASE MEMBER TO AN ENGINE ADJACENT THE VALVE GUIDE TO BE RECONDITIONED, (C) BUSHING MEANS TO GUIDE THE SHANK OF A CUTTING TOOL AXIALLY OF THE VALVE SEAT AND VALVE GUIDE FOR RECONDITIONING SAID VALVE GUIDE, (D) MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID GUIDE MEANS TO ALIGN SAID GUIDE MEANS WITH SAID VALVE SEAT BY ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID VALVE SEAT, AND (E) MEANS ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID GUIDE MEANS FOR CLAMPING SAID GUIDE MEANS IN A POSITION BETWEEN SAID VALVE SEAT AND SAID BASE MEMBER WITH SAID SEAT ENGAGING MEANS AGAINST SAID VALVE SEAT AND WITH THE END OF SAID GUIDE MEANS REMOTE FROM SAID VALVE SEAT AGAINST SAID BASE MEMBER. 